British flair at Scottland

Zimpapers Sports Hub

AMBITIOUS Northern Region Soccer League side Scottland have taken their audacious bid to win promotion into the Premiership to another level by engaging a British expatriate coach Ahmed Abdulla as technical adviser.

The former West Ham forward, who arrived in Harare last week, immediately plunged into the trenches yesterday as Scottland received Mt Darwin outfit AGAMA at Rufaro Stadium.

He followed proceedings from the VIP Tribune, but went into the Scottland dressing room at half-time to give his input.

Abdulla is expected to strengthen the Scottland technical bench that is headed by former Dynamos coach Genesis Mangombe, as they undertake a final push to try and fend off the strong challenge to the championship title from their rivals MWOS, Black Rhinos and Harare City.

And Scottland responded by welcoming him with a victory via veteran midfielder Allan Gahadzikwa’s first-half goal.

Rhinos bounced back into the reckoning when stemming a three-match winless run with a 1-0 win over strugglers DZ Royal at The Heart Stadium on Friday.

Leaders MWOS were restricted to a 1-1 draw by Chinhoyi Stars at Ngoni Stadium in Norton.

The spotlight in yesterday’s game fell on the NRSL’s new expatriate, who arrives with a decent profile, having been an assistant manager at Spanish Sagunda Division (La Liga 2) club Castellón.

He was in July 2023 appointed by Castellón as assistant to new head coach Dick Schreuder, who was his manager when he was a player at Barnet.

Abdulla is in Harare on an initial month-long stint during which he will be assessing the environment at Scottland, while working to help the club’s bid for Premiership promotion.

He told Zimpapers Sports Hub that he had so far been impressed with what he has seen at Scottland.

“I am very happy to be here. I came here because of the Scottland project,’’ Abdulla said.

“I have been surprised by the level of professionalism at the club and I am aware of their main ambition to get promoted and I am here to help coach Kaka (Mangombe) and add some experience to what Scottland already have.

“Both parties will assess how it is working and evaluate the situation after a month and if it all works well, I will stay on.’’

The 32-year-old, described as a young and ambitious coach, was born in Saudi Arabia and joined West Ham United after being released by Arsenal in the summer of 2008.

Having arrived at Little Heath, the young forward drew attention by scoring five goals in 23 league and cup appearances for Tony Carr’s Under-18s in the 2008/2009 season.

He turned out three times in the Barclays Premier Reserve League South, completing a full 90 minutes in a memorable 1-0 win at former club Arsenal in March.

Abdulla’s arrival underscores the significant strides that the NRSL has made in becoming a major attraction. Most of their matches over the last three seasons attracted decent crowds.

The Briton will soon be having his technical wits tested by some of the seasoned coaches in the league, who include Lloyd Mutasa, Arthur Tutani, Nesbert Saruchera and Ikabort Masocha.

That none of the chasing pack wants any slip-up also means Abdulla has little time to settle into his new role.

But the Scottland camp would have been pleased with the result that emanated from Ngoni as much as they celebrated Gahadzikwa’s winner.

Yesterday’s win and MWOS’ draw saw them reduce the gap between the log leaders and them to four points, as Mutasa’s men maintained pole position on 61 points.

Results:

Black Rhinos 1-0 DZ Royals; PAM FC 0-0 Cranborne Bullets; Karoi United 1-0 Shamva Mine; Zambezi G & C 0-0 Herentals U20; Black Mambas 1-2 Banket United; Scottland 1-0 AGAMA; Golden Eagles 0-0 CC Lee Mhangura